Meta data enhanced television programming

• US 7,774,817 B2
• Filed: 01/31/2001
• Issued: 08/10/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/31/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Gupta, Anoop
• Primary Examiner(s): Kelley, Christopher
• Assistant Examiner(s): Shepard, Justin E
• Application Number:
  US09/775,393
• Publication Number:
  US 20040073947A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,478 Days
• Field of Search: 725/32
• US Class Current: 725/86
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/252 Processing of multiple end-users' preferences to derive collaborative data
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26225 involving billing parameters, e.g. priority for subscribers of premium services
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/433 Content storage operation, e.g. storage operation in response to a pause request, caching operations
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4542 Blocking scenes or portions of the received content, e.g. censoring scenes
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4788 communicating with other users, e.g. chatting arrangements for providing for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms, to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1813; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4828 for searching program descriptors retrieval of video data G06F16/739
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/84 Generation or processing of descriptive data, e.g. content descriptors systems specially adapted for using meta-information in broadcast systems H04H60/73
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/76 Television signal recording
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/765 Interface circuits between an apparatus for recording and another apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/775 between a recording apparatus and a television receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/781 on disks or drums
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/85 on discs or drums

Abstract

A variety of meta data based enhancements to media content viewing are described, including making meta data corresponding to media content available for user searching and using meta data to identify highlight portions of the media content so that only the highlight portions need to be stored. Additionally, comments made to media content can be shared with other viewers of the content, even when viewing the content at different times and even when viewing different versions of the content. Furthermore, a synchronization point can be established for the media content and used by the client systems as a common reference location. In addition, advertisements for media content can be rendered based on how much time has been spent rendering the media content, as well as the amount of a fee paid by the user of the client system.

Claims

1. A method in a computing device of rendering portions of a television program that was previously recorded, the method comprising:

receiving meta data corresponding to the television program, wherein the meta data includes;

comments, and

for each comment, an identification of a portion within the television program to which the comment applies, the identification of a portion being an offset from a synchronization point after the beginning of the television program that serves as a common reference location for offsets among different versions of the television program, the synchronization point being specified by a broadcaster of the television program,

the meta data having been provided by first viewers of the television program, the meta data being organized into sets of meta data for the television program;

providing access rights of a plurality of second viewers to the sets of meta data for the television program, some of the second viewers not being the broadcaster of the television program and not entitled to access all sets of the meta data; and

providing recordings of different versions of the television program;

for each of the plurality of second viewers,

selecting a set of meta data that the second viewer is entitled to access as indicated by provided access rights;

receiving from the second viewer input search criteria relating to the television program;

searching by the computing device the selected set of meta data to identify comments of the selected set of meta data that satisfies the input search criteria;

for each identified comment, selecting the portion of a recorded version of the television program to which the identified comment applies as indicated by the received meta data and the synchronization point; and

rendering to the second viewer the selected portions of the recorded version of the television program as a rendering that is separate from the renderings for other second viewers and as a rendering that includes only the selected portions

so that each second viewer can view a customized, different, and separate rendering of a recorded version of the television program based on their input search criteria and the selected set of meta data provided by a first viewer of the television program that the second viewer is entitled to access.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the access rights are based on subscription fees paid by the second viewers.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the television program is received separately from the meta data.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein one version of the television program is an initial broadcast of the television program and another version of the television program is a recorded version of the television program.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein different first viewers provide meta data based on viewing different versions of the television program.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein advertisements are inserted when rendering the selected portions.

7. A computer-readable storage device containing computer-executable instructions for controlling a computing device to render portions of a video that was previously recorded, by a method comprising:

receiving meta data corresponding to the video, wherein the meta data includes;

comments, and

for each comment, an identification of a portion within the video to which the comment applies, the identification of a portion being an offset from a synchronization point after the beginning of the video that serves as a common reference location for offsets among different versions of the video, the synchronization point being specified by an author of the video,

the meta data having been provided by first viewers of the video, the meta data being organized into sets of meta data for the video;

providing access rights of a plurality of second viewers to the sets of meta data for the video, some of the second viewers not being an author of the video and not entitled to access all sets of the meta data; and

providing a recording of different versions of the video;

for each of the plurality of second viewers,

selecting a set of meta data that the second viewer is entitled to access as indicated by provided access rights;

receiving from the second viewer input search criteria relating to the video;

searching by the computing device the selected set of meta data to identify comments of the selected set of meta data that satisfies the input search criteria;

for each identified comment, selecting the portion of a recorded version of the video to which the identified comment applies as indicated by the received meta data; and

rendering to the second viewer the selected portions of the recorded version of the video as a rendering that is separate from the renderings for other second viewers.

8. The computer-readable storage device of claim 7 wherein the access rights are based on subscription fees paid by the second viewers.

9. The computer-readable storage device of claim 7 wherein the video is received separately from the meta data.

10. The computer-readable storage device of claim 9 wherein different first viewers provide meta data based on viewing different versions of the television program.

11. The computer-readable storage device of claim 10 wherein advertisements are inserted when rendering the selected portions.